[QTVOTD] Loyally faithful to the end…

“Fear nothing that you are about to suffer. [Dismiss your dread and your fears!] Behold, the devil is indeed about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested and proved and critically appraised, and for ten days you will have affliction. Be loyally faithful unto death [even if you must die for it], and I will give you the crown of life.” Revelation 2:10 ->me:  These are the words to the church of Smyrna – In verse 9, Jesus acknowledges the local atmospheric circumstances of the church there.  Smyrna was known as a city where being a believer was not only unlawful but the Jews and pagans took advantage of the illegality of Christianity and would use it to take action against the Church.  Jesus even goes as far to call the Jews who slander and perpetrate these acts as belonging to the ‘Synagogue of Satan”. Yeesh!  Jesus, as our intercessor, knows the earthly life and pain that accompanies living in this ungodly world.  I don’t know about you but one of the most comforting things about my Savior (Who sits, right now, at right hand of the Father in heaven) is that He knows exactly what betrayal, slander, persecution, pain, hopelessness and sorrow feel like.  So here, even in the face of imprisonment and maybe even death, Jesus is reassuring them that pain, affliction and even death in this world does not hold a candle to the crown of life He has in store for those who are loyal to His name….to the end.  Oh that I would have this kind of loyalty; this kind of fortitude in affliction.  This is why I need to be in His word everyday; building up the knowledge I have in Him so when the day comes, I will withstand the test and be proved and critically appraised.

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